March 2, 2016: Financial Aid FAQs

Weekly College Update

Happy March! This is an exciting month. UC acceptances started coming out yesterday with Merced and many more will come out over the next two weeks, so check those portals and good luck!

Today, March 2nd, is also important because it’s the deadline to submit your FAFSA or Dream Application. I’ve gotten some last minute questions from seniors about financial aid, so I wanted to address the most common ones in today’s newsletter.

This week’s focus is financial aid FAQs.

1. What happens if I miss the March 2nd deadline to submit FAFSA?March 2nd is a really important deadline to submit your FAFSA in order to receive state aid, like Cal Grants, and institutional aid from the colleges you’ve applied to. If you still haven’t submitted your application, try to submit it by the end of the day today if at all possible! Remember, you don’t have to wait until your parents file their taxes. You can submit it with estimates. If you miss the deadline, still submit it as soon as you can because you can still be eligible to receive some federal aid.

2. I applied to more than 10 colleges but the FAFSA application only lets me list 10. What should I do?Go ahead and submit it with the first 10 schools on your list. Then, wait to receive your Student Aid Report (SAR). Note, this is not the confirmation email you receive right away. It will be a separate email you get later that says “Student Aid Report.” Once you get that, you can log back in and submit corrections, and this should include changing your school list to the additional schools to which you’re applying. It’s okay if you do this after the March 2nd deadline.

3. What do I do after my parents file their 2015 taxes?After they complete their taxes, make sure you go back into your FAFSA and submit corrections to update the numbers. Remember, you just did an estimate and those numbers might be a little off. After you write in the corrections, you can submit it again. It’s also okay to do corrections after the March 2nd deadline, as long as you file the initial application by March 2nd.

4. Do I need to submit a GPA verification to apply for Cal Grant?No, the school takes care of this for all the seniors. It’s already been submitted for you, so you don’t need to worry about that step. Just submit your FAFSA by March 2nd and then make your Webgrants account.

5. What if I’m having problems setting up my Webgrants account and can’t do it by March 2nd?You might not be able to set up your Webgrants account until your FAFSA has been fully processed. It’s okay if you do this step later as long as your FAFSA is submitted by March 2nd. Just keep checking back and don’t forget about it because you will get important updates and notifications about Cal Grant through your Webgrants account.

Financial aid is complicated, so be persistent keep reaching out with your questions.

16 Scholarships Totaling Over $6.2 Million

Examiner.com recently featured this list of scholarships that together are worth a total of $6.2 million! All of them have deadlines in February or later. It just goes to show that there's still a lot of unclaimed scholarship money for college out there, so get busy applying today!

Silicon Valley Community Fund Scholarships Now Open!

Silicon Valley Community Foundation administers a variety of scholarship programs that grant up to $40,000 to high school, community college and university students. The majority of our scholarships are designated for current or former residents of San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Francisco counties. Since 2007, our scholarship programs have awarded more than $11.2 million to help students pursue higher education.

Find a Silicon Valley Community Fund scholarship you can apply for byclicking here!

Scholarship Opportunities

Steve Tirado Family Foundation ScholarshipWho can apply: Latin@ high school seniorsAmount of the award: $5,000Information/Application: Steve Tirado Family FoundationDeadline: March 19, 2016

Hispanic Scholarship FundWho can apply: must be of Hispanic heritage and have a minimum 3.0 GPAAmount of the award: $500- $5,000Information/Application: HSF General College ScholarshipsDeadline: March 30, 2016